Alex Rodriguez will file an appeal to his expected suspension and will be in the Yankees’ starting lineup on Monday, according to a report by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

Rodriguez faces a ban through the 2014 season, which is expected to be announced by Major League Baseball on Monday, according to NBC Sports sources. Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, players with pending appeals are allowed to play until a verdict is rendered. The latest from Nightengale:

Alex Rodriguez will be suspended through at least the 2014 season in an announcement Monday by Major League Baseball, but the New York Yankees third baseman plans to file an appeal that will enable him to play that evening against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, two people with direct knowledge of the plan told USA TODAY Sports.

There’s been talk of commissioner Bud Selig enacting a best-interest-of-MLB clause to prevent A-Rod from playing while he appeals his suspension, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post says Selig is unlikely to go through with that because he doesn’t want to get into a court battle the MLBPA.

A-Rod’s appeal will be heard by independent arbitrator Fredric Horowitz within the next three weeks. He one of several players who face punishment for their alleged involvement with Biogenesis, a shuttered Miami wellness clinic, and all of the suspensions are expected to be announced Monday, according to multiple reports. Ryan Braun in July accepted a suspension for the remainder of the season for receiving PEDs from the clinic.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi spoke openly about the situation before Sunday’s series finale against the Padres at Petco Park: “I think all of us are curious what’s going to happen, and is Alex going to be a player for us tomorrow, and what’s going to happen with the other guys that are involved in this. Because in my mind I have him penciled in here tomorrow. … I don’t suspect it’ll be awkward. Most of the guys know him as a teammate and have laughed a lot with Alex and been around Alex a lot. I think it’ll be business as usual.”

Rodriguez, 38, went 9-for-42 (.214/.333/.452) with three home runs and 10 RBI in 15 rehab games.

Yankees third basemen have hit .215/.273/.286 with four homers and 32 RBI in 109 games this year.

The Oakland Athletics ballpark saga has dragged on for years and years and years. They’ve considered San Jose, Fremont and at least three locations in Oakland as potential new ballpark sites. The whole process has lasted almost as long as the Braves and Rangers played in their old parks before building new ones.

In the past several months the Athletics’ “stay in Oakland” plan has gained momentum. At one point the club thought it had an agreement to build a new place near Peralta/Laney College in downtown Oakland. There have been hiccups with that, so two other sites — Howard Terminal, favored by city officials — and the current Oakland Coliseum site have remained in play. There are pros and cons to each of these sites, as we have discussed in the past.

One consideration not mentioned before was mentioned by team president David Kaval yesterday: sea level rise due to climate change. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Kaval mentioned twice that the Howard Terminal site would have to take into account sea-level rise and transportation concerns — and he said there have been conversations with the city and county and the Joint Powers Authority about developing the Coliseum site.

The Howard Terminal/Jack London Square area of Oakland has been identified as susceptible to dramatically increased flooding as a result of projected sea level rise due to climate change. On the other side of the bay both the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors have had to consider sea level rise in their stadium/arena development plans. Now it’s the Athletics’ turn.

Fifteen of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams play in coastal areas and another five of them play near the Great Lakes. While some of our politicians don’t seem terribly concerned about it all, people and organizations who will have skin the game 10, 20 and 50 years from now, like the Oakland Athletics, are taking it into account.